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RALEIGH, N.C. — People for the first time will have the option of getting inoculated against the
flu with a newly developed four-strain vaccine rather than the three-strain vaccine in use for
decades.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a shot for four flu strains on Thursday, after
approving a similar vaccine in December. Both are as preventives against the virus that kills
thousands of Americans each year.Both vaccines were developed by pharmaceutical giant
GlaxoSmithKline after public-health officials repeatedly wrongly predicted which flu strains would
be the most dominant.GlaxoSmithKline plans to deliver about 10 million doses for the coming flu
season, plus at least12 million doses of the traditional flu vaccine made for three strains.

The company’s two four-strain vaccines — Flulaval Quadrivalent and Fluarix Quadrivalent — are
approved for children as young as 3.

“This is the first influenza season coming up where quadrivalent vaccine will be available,”
said Leonard Friedland, the company’s director for scientific affairs and public health. “We expect
in the next few years, the market will switch to quadrivalent formulations.”

Friedland said the new vaccines will provide broader coverage against influenza viruses that
health experts project to be the most prevalent, but they will not provide total immunity against
influenza.Vaccines with four strains are designed to increase the odds that the inoculation will be
effective, reducing the reliance on the guesswork of scientists.

Sometimes, a new virus emerges for which there is no vaccine. That happened most recently in
2009, with the emergence of the H1N1 flu virus. Seasonal vaccines now inoculate against the H1N1
strain.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in a 2012 study, said the benefits of
four-strain vaccines will depend on the number of people who are inoculated and on the virus
strains in circulation. The agency said the benefits will probably be “modest,” but it said the use
of four-strain vaccines could prevent 970,000 flu cases and 485 deaths in this country.

The new vaccines are made in Germany and in Canada. They are being shipped to doctors, health
centers, businesses, health agencies, pharmacies, retailers and others that have placed orders.